Don't worry!

If you missed the After Thanksgiving Sale, don't worry, the cookbook will be on sale again, soon...so keep on checking for that sale. Also, for those of you in the Ogden area, there will be a sale at the RC Willey on Riverdale Road where my cookbook will be on sale for $10...that means NO SHIPPING!!! I only have five of them there, so hurry! The money will be donated to a family who just received some heart-wrenching news. The father of the family has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Money is tight, to say the least, and ALL of the proceeds from my cookbook sales will go to help this family. So...if you are trying to find a good deed to perform this Christmas...go buy some cookbooks and help a family in need!

Home-Made Whole Wheat Rolls

I've given this one out before and, because it is one of my favorites, I'm always reluctant to keep it out there. It is one of the incentives for buying my cookbook. Anyway, my favorite time to give it out is at Thanksgiving, when people are looking for good roll recipes. My family loves these so much that, on both sides, I've been asked to bring them for Thanksgiving for years now. They are easy AND cheap, so I'm thrilled that this is what I'm asked to bring. Seriously...the bread machine does all the work...can you beat a Thanksgiving where a bread machine prepares your contribution???

Quick and Easy Buttery Rolls

1 C lukewarm milk (you can warm it in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds)

1⁄2 C butter, softened

1⁄4 C sugar

1 T honey

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

31⁄2 C whole wheat flour (sifted)

2 tsp dough enhancer

1 T gluten

1 packet yeast or 21⁄2 tsp

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put ingredients as listed above in bread machine and choose the “dough” option. This will knead and heat your dough to the perfect temperature for rising. When dough is finished, roll into 11⁄2-2 in. sized balls. Butter a baking dish and line with dough balls. Cover with saran wrap and let rise about 20-25 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Using a butter knife, spread softened butter over the rolls until tops are coated. Delicious! Makes about 20 dinner rolls.

Variation: Roll out into a large circle about 1⁄4 inch thick or less. Cut dough like a pizza with large triangles. Roll from fatter side to thinner side to make crescent rolls and follow directions above for rising and baking. Note:If you don't have a bread machine, just knead the dough on medium speed in your stand mixer for 10 minutes and then let dough rise for an hour. Form dough into balls and continue as instructed above. You HAVE to use a machine to knead as the dough is too sticky to knead by hand.

P.S. We are down to two days before my cookbook goes on sale!!! Remember Midnight on the 25th!!!

Literally, "Pumpkin" pie

This is so, so, so good! Oh my gosh. I've never actually made pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin...until now. IT. IS. AMAZING. It really isn't too hard, either! I was shocked.

Seriously Homemade Pumpkin Pie

The first part of the directions for this pie pertain to the actual pumpkin. First, find a pie pumpkin (sugar pumpkin) and cut it in half. Scoop out stringy junk and seeds. Put cut side down in turkey roaster and cover. Bake at 350 degrees about an hour or so...until soft. The skin should be very soft now, so peel off the skin and discard. Puree the leftover pumpkin.

Ingredients:

3 C pureed pumpkin

2 T whole wheat flour

3 eggs

3/4 C white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

1 can evaporated milk

Mix together pumpkin, whole wheat flour, eggs, sugar and spices. Stir in evaporated milk and pour into unbaked pie shell. (use the following recipe for a whole wheat crust). Bake pie at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees. You may need to cover the pie crust edges with foil to avoid overbaking the edges of the pie. Bake for about 50 minutes to an hour or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. It may take a little longer...just keep checking until the toothpick comes out clean.

Fabulous, Flaky Whole Wheat Pie Crust

1 C + 2 T finely ground and sifted whole wheat flour

1 tsp wheat germ (optional)

1⁄2 C shortening (substitute part or all with Butter Flavored Crisco...it is MUCH BETTER!)

1 T sugar (or to taste)

1 T cold water

1/8 tsp salt (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift whole wheat flour twice. Cut shortening, salt, sugar and wheat germ into flour. Add cold water and mix with hand. Put ball of dough between two large pieces of saran wrap and roll in a circle until about 1/8-1⁄4 in. thick. Pat dough into pie pan, and prick with fork every inch of sides and bottom. Follow instructions above. Bake for 10 minutes.

If it is a filled pie, bake for 45 minutes to an hour, according to recipe directions. Until pie filling is finished cooking and pie crust is golden brown. You may need to cover the edges of the crust with foil if they appear to be getting overdone. Note: If making a quiche or dinner recipe with pie crust, you can choose to half the sugar to reduce the sweetness of the crust.

****Only four more days until you can purchase my cookbook for an all-time low for the first 100 cookbooks!!! It goes on sale on midnight (mountain) time the day after Thanksgiving. It is regularly $13.50, but will be one sale for...wait and see!!!****

Pumpkin Pillows with Cream Cheese Frosting...AND...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever eaten Pilgrim Pies??? No? They are moist, delicious pumpkin cookies fused together with rich cream cheese frosting. mmmmmmmm They are so, so, so good. Mine are titled "Pumpkin Pillows". Anyway, I made them the other day and my family went crazy over them. I actually made half into Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, thus further enrapturing my family. We are pumpkin lovin' fools at this house! So, before I forget...remember to check my blog to order the cookbook on midnight of Thanksgiving! The first 100 cookbooks will be sold for an all-time low!!! Oh, and I also have an amazing pumpkin pie recipe coming up...(made from a pumpkin!) Delicious!!!

P.S. For cookbook owners...these cookies are on page 132 of your cookbook.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 C canned pumpkin

1 C white sugar

1 egg

1⁄2 C vegetable oil

1 T vanilla

13⁄4 C + 1 T whole wheat flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1⁄2 tsp salt

11⁄2 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees mix pumpkin, sugar, egg, oil and vanilla in a bowl and set aside. In the second bowl mix the whole wheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate chips. Chocolate Lovers: Feel free to add another handful of chocolate chips...the more the better. Drop by the spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown on top and firm. ENJOY!!

Pumpkin Pillows with Cream Cheese Filling (also known as Pilgrim Pies)

Prepare pumpkin cookies above, EXCEPT, omit chocolate chips. Bake cookies and let cool. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between two cookies and make a sandwich...they are wonderful!!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 stick softened butter

21⁄2–3 C powdered sugar (to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

About an hour before making frosting, get cream cheese and butter out of the refrigerator and set on the counter to soften at room temperature. Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat for several minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. Add milk by tablespoons to get your desired consistency.

Really? Cheese waffles???

Sounds gross...but they are AWESOME!!! I made them for my family because I was tired of the "I need more syrup" argument every morning that we had waffles. I was also tired of the "we need more brown sugar on our oatmeal or nine grain cereal" argument. I thought it might be nice to have a meal that requires no sweetener of any kind. Enter...cheese waffles. I had read about cheese waffles probably at least a year ago and really, the thought of cheese waffles wasn't even slightly tempting. However, in my quest for non-sugar breakfast alternatives, cheese waffles sounded started to sound slightly appetizing. So, I decided to give it a go and lo and behold...my family loved them! I added bacon to them, too, and they are very similar to a bread omelet...which may not sound good, but these are really quite tasty. The best part...NO SYRUP!!! That means that there was very little mess and they could eat them while they walked to school...AWESOME!!!

P.S. I buy already cooked and chopped bacon in bulk at Costco...it is GREAT and saves time and mess! You can freeze it, which is what I do and just throw it in your recipes.

P.P.S. This recipe could quite possibly be wonderful with syrup...I haven't tried it yet...and I'm going to try to NEVER let my kids get wind that syrup is ever a possibility with these waffles.

Anyone looking for new Thanksgiving Recipes???

If you are...here is one to try...it is EXQUISITE!!! It is rich, but tempered by pumpkin, so it isn't too rich. Its moist texture is unbeatable for a pumpkin cake. It is, of course, 100% whole wheat. The cream cheese frosting is smooth, creamy and has just the right amount of powdered sugar to avoid an all-out sugar overload. My sister gave me this recipe a couple of years ago, and it is truly delicious. If you are looking for a dessert to bring to Thanksgiving that literally "takes the cake"...this is it. You have time, try it out before Thanksgiving...you won't be disappointed!!! Oh...if you already have the cookbook, it is found on page 121.

Exquisite Pumpkin Bundt Cake

2 C sugar

4 eggs

3⁄4 C oil

1⁄4 C applesauce

13⁄4 C sifted whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1⁄2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1⁄2 tsp salt

2 C pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and oil. Add applesauce. Mix in eggs. Stir in pumpkin. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder spices and salt. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Bake for 55 -60 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes and remove from bundt pan. Let cake completely cool and then frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 stick softened butter

21⁄2–3 C powdered sugar (to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

About an hour before making frosting, get cream cheese and butter out of the refrigerator and set on the counter to soften at room temperature. Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat for several minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. This is great for banana bread, zucchini bread, yellow cake or any other baked dessert you would like to use it on.

Note: For the Pumpkin Bundt Cake, I added 1/4 C milk to the frosting to make it easier to spread (and prettier!).

P.S. Remember that my cookbook is going on sale really soon...the day after Thanksgiving...so stay tuned and order quickly!!!

Pizza Pillows

My friend Stacey gave me a recipe, a long time ago, for something called "Chicken Balls". Sounds equally funny and gross, but they are delicious, like everything Stacey makes. They are sometimes called Chicken Pillows or Chicken Puffs. They are those biscuits rolled into balls stuffed with cream cheese and shredded chicken, etc. They are so good and we still LOVE that recipe. I decided to try a new spin on the recipe because of the fact that my family loves pizza, but I need a way to freeze leftovers in a way that they will eat them later. My family is non too fond of frozen, reheated pizza. So, I had a thought...what if I used my pizza dough (which makes TONS of dough) and made "pizza balls"? Well, I'm pleased to announce that I tried it and my family, husband included, LOVED them! There were a few leftovers, which were promptly frozen and can be reheated (in an oven!) and served and enjoyed all over again!!! Talk about a stress-free meal for me in the future! The only thing I'll do differently next time is to make ALL the pizza pillows at once. I only made half the dough into pizza pillows (earlier this week) and then made them again last night. Next time, for a seriously stress free meal later in the week, I'll make them all and freeze half of them. Well, here is the recipe:

Dough recipe:

This dough recipe is from the cookbook under "Oven-Baked Thick Crusted Pizza **V**

1⁄2 C lukewarm water

2 T yeast

3 T sugar

Mix above ingredients and set aside for about 5 minutes.

1Tsalt

1/3 C oil

2 C lukewarm water

5-8 C sifted whole wheat flour

1 T dough enhancer (optional, available at health food stores)

1 T gluten (optional, available at health food stores)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix salt, oil, 3 C of flour, dough enhancer, gluten and water together. Add yeast mixture. Add whole wheat flour 1⁄2 C at a time until dough is just not sticky, DON'T add too much flour. Knead dough for about 8-10 minutes, making sure that dough is pliable, and is not sticky. Place dough in large, greased bowl and let rise for about an hour, punching down and kneading briefly every 10 minutes. Spray cookie sheets or baking stones.

Specific Directions for making pillows:

Pizza toppings

Parmesan Cheese

Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide pizza dough into small sections (a little smaller than fist-sized). Using a rolling pin, roll out into small circles. Put cheese, pepperonis, sausage, veggies or whatever topping you enjoy in the middle of the dough circle. Collect all outer parts of dough and seal into a ball with NONE of the toppings poking out anywhere. Roll pizza "pillows" in melted butter and then in Parmesan cheese. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Top with Marinara sauce and enjoy!

To reheat: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put frozen pizza pillows on a cookie sheet and reheat for 25-30 minutes or until very warm.

P.S. Veggie Pizza Pockets are really good with ranch dressing and extra parmesan cheese.

mmmm....the sweet aroma of pumpkin...

We had snow today...yep...how great is that for kicking off the Thanksgiving holiday??? I was thrilled, of course I'm pretty much a snow-lovin' gal, so I was particularly thrilled when I watched the rain the morning transform into a wet a heavy snow right before my eyes. So...I thought I'd post one of my favorite recipes. I posted this last year, but it deserves a repeat performance because it is good. These are pumpkin pie bars and they are scrumptious. I love them...seriously. Why did I not make them...well, first and foremost...I ate too many Reese's peanut butter cups last night. What does that have to do with pumpkin pie bars you ask??? Well, I have now entered into a pact with my sister-in-law to avoid sweets until Thanksgiving. Will I be making sweets anyway...yes, as tortuous as it will be, I will not deprive the rest of my family....but today, as I kick off my agonizing no-sweets journey...I will refrain from tempting myself...(as if the 400 packs of candy my kids brought home won't be hard enough to refrain from!)

So, for those of you out there still enjoying life...here you go!

Oh...FYI...pumpkin facts for those interested:

In one cup of mashed pumpkin, you get 11% of your daily fiber, 19% of your vitamin C, 8% of your iron, 4% of your calcium and 245% of your daily needs for Vitamin A!!! So...if you are looking for the healthiest alternative for a dessert...always pick the pumpkin one!!!


Pumpkin Pie Bars

1 1/3 C whole wheat flour (doesn’t have to be sifted)
2/3 C oatmeal
2/3 C butter, softened
3/2 C brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put above ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands, squishing until mixture is crumbly and butter is evenly distributed. Pat 2 ½ C of mixture into the bottom of a greased 13X9 pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

While above mixture is baking, mix the following ingredients for one minute.

¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp cinnamon
¾ C sugar
1 can evaporated milk
2 eggs
2 C pumpkin

After 10 minutes of baking, remove 13X9 pan with crust from the oven. Reduce heat to 350 on the oven. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the crust and put back in the oven for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, open the oven and sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar/flour mixture over the pumpkin. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for about 15 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.